*1 week later*
October, 2015
Her eyelashes feather open, and the blurry images slowly sharpen, making the room around her clear. The morning sunlight pouring in from the window brightened the room and made Arabella's eyes ache. She uses the back of her hand to rub her eyes as she sits upright in bed. She didn't have to go into work today, but she did need to go to the grocery store, do her laundry and clean the house. Running through her mental checklist made her head hurt as well, causing her to lay back down onto her pillow and utter, "Five more minutes."
Five minutes turned into ten minutes, and ten minutes turned into twenty minutes. A half an hour later, Arabella swings her legs over the side of her bed and drags herself into the bathroom to get ready for the day.
After her shower, she puts on a band tee, jeans, and her favorite pair of white vans. She had decided to let her hair air dry today, so the usual straight brown hair was now curly as can be, be not frizzy and she was thankful for that.
Grabbing her purse and keys, she heads out the front door. On her way to her car, a familiar stranger was spotted out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she spotted him walking towards her with a smirk on his face. She stood next to her car, and before she knew it a tall man with chocolate eyes stood in front of her.
"Hello." With his hands in his jean pockets, there was still that smirk that played across his lips, that made Arabella feel some sort of way.
Oh, he's got an accent, she thought to herself.
Where have I heard that from? Was it British? Or more specifically, Yorkshire? No. Maybe Sheffield?
He was wearing a plain black shirt, with a gold chain resting on his neck and jeans.
"Well hello." She says as she returns the smile. She lifted her eyes and met his gaze. His eyes were a soft brown, and his jawline was sharp enough to cut something.
"Well, I've now been your neighbor for about a week, and I was going to come over and introduce myself sooner or later." He speaks quite smoothly. Arabella notices his eyes move up and down fairly quickly.
Did he just check my out?
"You can just call me Al."
"Just Al?" She asks, and he nods. "Alright just Al, my name is Arabella." He lets out a small laugh before looking back at her.
"That's a beautiful name." A blush creeps up her neck and makes her cheeks warm. Her hand makes it's way to her face, attempting to cover up her now red cheek. Now this grin takes up the majority of his face, and Arabella did in fact think it was cute.
Stop, you can't think that.
"So what brings you here, out of all places?" She asks him in an attempt to change the subject.
"Err, just a fresh start, I suppose." Now for some reason, it was his turn to blush.
"Is someone blushing?" Arabella asks with a giggle to try and lighten the mood. Al touches his neck before continuing.
"I think I should be asking you the same question, doll." He pauses for a moment, "I just wasn't expecting my new neighbor to be so pretty." He says with ease.
Charming.
"I, uh, I'm sorry but I've got some errands to run today. It was nice to meet you, Al." He laughs, he can sense her awkwardness as well as she can.
"You too, love." He flashes her a soft smile, and that's when he slowly turns around and makes his way towards the sidewalk, back to his house.
Arabella gets into her car and mentally slaps herself for being so awkward around him.
Dammit, Bell. He's just a person. An attractive one at that, but he's just a person, She tells herself.
She turns the key and the engine roars to life.
~
Three hours later, she rolls back into the driveway and shuts off her car. Through her windshield, she can see someone sitting on the steps of her porch.
It's Al.
She quickly gets out of the car, and opens the back door to grab two grocery bags before approaching the door.
He take his cigarette between his two fingers and blows out a puff of smoke away from him.
"Well hello there love." He says as he stands up.
"How long have you been sitting there? Or, why?" Arabella furrows her eyebrows in confusion. Al looks down at his watch.
"My watch is broken, do you mind telling me the time?" He asks.
"Uh, yeah..." She digs her phone out of her back pocket and clicks it on, "It's 5:05."
"So about a half an hour, and because I was waiting for you to get home."
But, why?
"To answer your question as to why, because I wanted to ask you on a date." He says bluntly, and Arabella is taken aback by his words.
"A date?"
"Yes, a date. Have you ever heard of it?"
Damn, that accent.
"Well yes of course, but you barely know me."
"Yes, I know this. I want to get to know you. So I'll take you on a date tomorrow night, we will get to each other, yes? Come on, it'll be fun."
He was just so straight forward with everything, it shocked Arabella. She was not used to such bluntness.
"I- I don't know." She says in an unsure tone. "Here, follow me inside." She walks past Al and unlocks the door, pushing it open with her foot. Al closes the door behind both of them and follows her into the kitchen, and he watches her put the groceries away, yet the conversation is still going strong.
"Why don't you know?" Arabella opens the fridge to put the milk away.
"Well, long story short, I just broke up with my boyfriend fairly recently and-" He cuts her off,
"And you're not ready to start dating just yet, right? I understand that." Arabella stutters.
"Er, yes, I guess so," She brushes the hair out of her face as she finishes putting away the groceries, "You're seem like a nice guy and all, but I'm just not interested in dating right now."
She wasn't lying. Yes, she did in fact find him attractive, but she just wasn't ready. Her last relationship ended about a month ago, and it wasn't pretty given the fact that the cops were involved. So naturally, she's terrified to start anything new at the moment.
Al sighs and he loses that perfect smile.
"Well, alright. If you ever change your mind, I'm right next door darling."
Darling, that's sweet.
"Will do, Al." She flashes him a sweet smile before he goes to leave.
"Thanks, love." And ending with that, he's out the front door.
Arabella leans up against the counter, looking down at the ground. Her heart beats erratically and she actually is coming to terms with what just happened. A smile slowly stretches across her lips and her cheeks blush a rosy color.
"He asked me on a date."
YOU ARE READING
Sweaters & Cigarettes
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